Maternal teaching behaviour and pre-verbal development of children with Down syndrome and typically developing children

The objective of the current study was to identify and compare maternal teaching behaviours in interactions with infants with Down syndrome and typically developing infants, in relation to their pre-verbal development. Teaching behaviours defined based on a mediational theory perspective, were videotaped and examined in interactions with 38 infants with Down syndrome and 38 typically developing infants, in relation to their Pre-verbal Communication development from 7-9 to 20-22 months. The gap in the development of Pre-verbal Communication between the two groups in favour of typically developing children became clearly apparent at 14-16 months and coincided with a gap in frequency of maternal teaching behaviours provided to each group. Mothers of children with Down syndrome used more ‘isolated' Focusing which was negatively related to measures of Pre-verbal Communication and less Affecting and Expanding which were positively related to Pre-verbal Communication as compared with mothers of typically developing children. For children with Down syndrome, Regulation of behaviour and Affecting observed at 14-16 months were the best predictors of pre-verbal development at 20-22 months. For children with Down syndrome and typically developing children, sequences of parental behaviour including Focusing accompanied by Affecting or Expanding, observed at 14-16 months, predicted pre-verbal development and Bayley scores, at 20-22 months, whereas ‘isolated' Focusing behaviour was a negative predictor of the above. These findings suggest the need to direct teaching behaviour in meaningful sequences rather than in isolation.